Clay Aiken Takes On The New Republic

Welcome to the beginning of a very busy week for Clay, his team and his supporters!!

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Monday started with a nice e-mail from Tucker Middleton:

It goes without saying that we’re running one of the most exciting and closely watched races of 2014.

Hitting stands today (and online soon), The New Republic magazine details the “serious” and “sincere” race we’re running here in North Carolina’s Second District in the article “Wooing the RepublAiken Vote.”

The article praises Clay for being a serious and knowledgable candidate focused on local issues and substantive discussion of policy. The article’s author, Jason Zengerle, writes:

“In fact, it can be hard to shut him up about education policy, a topic he seems to understand better than probably 400 of the 435 people in the House of Representatives.”

And, as the article points out, Clay’s focus on grassroots campaigning and his policy depth sharply contrast Renee Ellmers’ complete tone deafness and her absence on issues important to our district. Zengerle writes:

“[Clay’s] opponent, Renee Ellmers, is not overburdened with raw political talent. Since arriving in Congress in 2010, the former nurse has distinguished herself mostly by sticking her foot in her mouth.”

In just over 6 months, we’ve built an incredible campaign, and we’re continuing to gain support every day on the campaign trail. But we’re going to need your help to reach all the voters in our district during these final weeks.

As you know, I cannot post the entire article so these are a few interesting paragraphs.

I do hope you will read the entire article at the New Republic

New Republic: Clay Aiken Won’t Sing for Your Vote – But this American Idol will do just about anything else to win

By Jason Zengerle

…The first person Aiken called upon making his candidacy official was Jim Hunt, the former North Carolina governor and grand old man of Democratic politics in the state. One of his next calls was to Donald Trump. Aiken got to know The Donald a couple years earlier when he was a contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice.” “He’s very political,” Aiken explains, “and if he had any disagreements with me, I wanted him to air them with me instead of on ‘Fox and Friends.’” So far, Trump, whom Aiken likens to his Tea Party–supporting uncle (“I love him and he loves me and we don’t agree on a whole lot”), has held his tongue…

…And, fortunately for him, his opponent, Renee Ellmers, is not overburdened with raw political talent. Since arriving in Congress in 2010, the former nurse has distinguished herself mostly by sticking her foot in her mouth: Just last month, she advised her male colleagues in the House to quit it already with the pie charts and graphs in budget debates and “bring it down to a woman’s level.” But Ellmers does have one big thing going for her. She’s a Republican incumbent in a Republican district facing off against a Democratic challenger who’s a gay former reality TV star—or, as Ellmers’s spokesperson has unsubtly described Aiken, “a performer whose political views more closely resemble those of San Francisco than Sanford.” She is favored to win…

…To that end, Aiken strives to be serious and sober while campaigning, even boring. He’s not a “Duck Dynasty”–style quote machine. Nor is he running a hopeless race just for the cameras, like Thomas Ravenel on “Southern Charm.” Aiken spends much of his time on the stump talking about his trips to Afghanistan and South Sudan as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and his experiences as a special-education teacher—the career path he was on before he auditioned for “Idol” on a lark. In fact, it can be hard to shut him up about education policy, a topic he seems to understand better than probably 400 of the 435 people in the House of Representatives…

But on a recent afternoon, as he sat in his campaign office in a plush red chair that once graced the game room in his old house, Aiken told me he had a confession to make. He had transgressed. It happened on a Friday night a few months earlier. He was stumping for votes at a senior-citizens center that was hosting a dance party. There was a live band. As he walked in, he was mobbed by septuagenarian women. He realized that, if he didn’t sing for them, he’d “look like such a jerk.”

…So Aiken turned to the musicians and asked them to play “Unchained Melody,” the Righteous Brothers classic he’d performed to great success on “Idol.” As soon as he started up with Ohhhh my love, “It was complete pandemonium.” When the song was over, he tried to slip out the door, but one of the elderly women abandoned her date and asked Aiken to dance. Soon, other women were jockeying to cut in. “There were more fights on the dance floor than there are in Iraq right now,” he recalled. Eventually, Aiken managed to oblige every request, sometimes dancing with two women at a time, their male companions standing by themselves against the wall. In the parking lot afterward, Aiken considered what his broken promise had wrought. “Well, I’ve got the vote of every woman in there,” he told a campaign aide, “and every man in there wants to burn me in effigy.”…

There is a lot more fun, exciting, and interesting parts of the interview. You can see it at NEWREPUBLIC

What do you think of this article?

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WFNC 640 AM is a radio station in Fayetteville

The station tweeted the following information on Monday!

TOMORROW MORNING ON GMF- Goldy & Jim broadcast live from the new Embassy Suites Hotel on Lake Valley Dr. We will be there in conjunction with the Ft. Bragg Transition Summit and Job Fair. Lots of important military guests and Congressional candidate, Clay Aiken at 8:30. Ride to work with Goldy and Jim, 6-10am. All your local news, big national stories, WNCN meteorologist Bill Reh’s weather, Right Now Traffic, Mike McKinney’s Sports, entertainment news, live music and YOUR phone calls, we got it all goin’ on!! News/Talk 640 WFNC and around the world on wfnc640am.com, IHeartRadio and, now, the WFNC phone app. Are you listening?

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Since I am in California, I doubt that I will hear it live. Hopefully the station will put the interview up on their website! As soon as I get the information, I will let you know.

One other thing…On Monday, I wrote a mid-day blog. If you didn’t see it, it is on page 2.

Clay Aiken News Network is an unofficial fansite. We are not affiliated in any way with Clay Aiken or his management. This website was made by fans for fans and makes no impression or impersonation of the official site, which can be found under the domain clayaiken.com.

Comments

This is a very interesting article since it is written with an unbiased view. (I think) I got a big laugh at the last paragraph. Clay must have been overwhelmed with all the ladies at the senior center. I'm not too fond of the drawing of Clay they have to begin the article. It doesn't resemble Clay at all. They should have used a real photo.

I LOVED the article!! I do the the drawing to begin the article. Very Modern. I could just see Clay dancing with all the senior ladies. I would have loved to see it. I can't believe there were no photos. Of course then people would say "He said he wasn't gonna sing for votes". Sometimes you just have to be nice. That is why he has the momentum going that he does.
Excellent job Musicfan, you always to such a wonderful job.

iloved the article ithink mabe that clay was overwelmed with all those ladies at the senyor center ilike the drawing of clay with those 2 micraphones but of corse then people said clay aiken wont sing for your votes in other words he wasent going to sing for votes but ya kn ow sometimes in life ya have ta be nice and that is why clay has the amazement and momentum going on a verry wonderfull job there music fan keep it up and going clay for congress

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Clay Aiken News Network is an unofficial fansite. We are not affiliated in any way with Clay Aiken or his management. This website was made by fans for fans and makes no impression or impersonation of the official site, which can be found under the domain clayaiken.com.

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I have always believed in a life of service. But Tina, Dr. Mac, and the kids I worked with at Brentwood crystallized that desire. They helped me to see how vital it is for me to use my time on earth to make a difference in some way. -Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken News Network is an unofficial fansite. We are not affiliated in any way with Clay Aiken or his management. This website was made by fans for fans and makes no impression or impersonation of the official site, which can be found under the domain clayaiken.com.

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